One refugee camp, one month of food

News | May 18, 2017

Liz Josie and Lisa Fiedler sat next to each other at a presentation earlier this year about refugee camps in Jordan. They were at the Bettendorf Public Library to hear Dr. Majdi Omar and nurse Ann Garton tell the story about their time serving overseas in camps.

“We all left feeling heartbroken,” said Lisa, who is a member at St. Paul.

Days passed. Lisa got a phone call. “Hi. This is Liz. I sat next to you at the presentation at the library. I went home that night and couldn’t sleep. I have this idea, and I need more people to help.”

A group met at Liz’s house, and she told them about that idea: Send an entire shipping container of food, packed through Kids Against Hunger, to a refugee camp, enough to feed the camp for one month. The cost? $70,000. The number of meals? 256,608. The meals are specially formulated for this exact type of circumstance).

“How in the world would we do that?” Lisa thought for a moment.

And then they all got to work. They raised money, including a fundraiser at the Putnam Museum. They found an organization that really needed the food at one of their camps for Syrians in Lebanon, and the way to get it there (a 40-foot shipping container).

On Saturday, June 3, they will host a massive, all-day packaging event – this group of women and one Boy Scout working on his Eagle project. They need lots of people to help (sign up here).

“It’s opened my eyes up so much. I see how things differently than before,” Liz said.

 

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